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Friday, September 4, 2009

September Contest Update

What are you waiting for? Only 118 days left this year.

The Golden Heart and RITA contest are right around the corner. Online entry will begin very soon. And RWA announced just this week that they are going to make PayPal an option for members paying for the contest entry fees.

For those interested in the GH Timeline, here it is:

September 21, 20092010 Golden Heart Contest opens to entries.November 16, 2009Entry forms and fees must be received by the RWA Office.

December 2, 2009Entered works must be received in the RWA Office. Failure to meet this deadline shall result in disqualification and forfeiture of the entry fee.

December 31, 2009Preliminary-round judging begins.

March 25, 2010Notification will be sent to finalists by two-day delivery. Phone calls to notify finalists will also commence. Release of official finalist list on RWA Web site by 2 p.m. Central Time.

More information is available on the RWA website.

RITA timeline:

September 15, 2009Any publisher applying to be an RWA-Eligible Publisher or an RWA non-Subsidy/non-Vanity Publisher for the purposes of the RITA Contest must be approved by this date for books to qualify for the upcoming contest.

September 21, 2009RITA Contest entry is available for books published by RWA-Eligible Publishers. The RWA list of Eligible Publishers may be found on the RWA Web site.

October 12, 2009RITA Contest entry is available to all books published by non-Subsidy/non-Vanity Publishers. The RWA list of non-Subsidy/non-Vanity Publishers may be found on the RWA Web site.

December 1, 2009Deadline for entry forms and fees to be received by the RWA Office.

January 4, 2010Deadline for books to be received at the RWA Office. Failure to meet this deadline will result in disqualification and forfeiture of the entry fee.

January 20, 2010Preliminary-round judging begins.

March 25, 2010Notification will be sent to finalists by two-day delivery. Phone calls to notify finalists will also commence. Release of official finalist list on RWA Web site by 2 p.m. Central Time.

More information is available on the RWA website.

Today the Seekerville prize vault is open and for no apparent reason we are giving a prize to a random Seeker Follower. So you have to be listed in the right hand column of Seekerville as a Follower. Unsure what a Follower is? Find more info here.

The second prize goes to a random poster who shares what's going on in their contest world.

Winners will be announced in the Weekend Edition.

What's the prize you ask?

You get to pick a book that is currently in print and available, and authored by any Seeker.

Unpublished Contests:

Last call for entries Where the Magic Begins. Deadline has been extended to September 15. They are low in several categories. FMI check the site.

Launching a STAR. Postmark deadline of September 5. THAT'S TOMORROW! First 25 pages. One editor and one agent judge in each category. The overall contest winner has a star named in their honor through the International Star Registry. An engraved, star-shaped paperweight is presented to the first place winner of each category, and stars cover the frameable certificate provided to all finalists.

Gateway to the Best. Deadline September 11. Electronic entry includes the first 25 pages. Each entry will be judged by three experienced judges with the lowest of the three scores dropped from the final tabulation. The Grand Prize Winner will receive US $100, a full reading and critique of her entire manuscript by a MORWA Published Author, a certificate, and a "Gateway to the Best Grand Prize Winner" electronic banner announcing the win for the author’s website."Historical: Esi Sogah, Avon-- Contemporary Series : Laura Barth, Harlequin--Paranormal: LaToya Smith, Grand Central--Single Title: Katherine Pelz, Berkley-- Suspense : Margo Lipshultz, Harlequin.

Fiction From the Heartland. Deadline extended to September 23. Prologue/First Chapter and Synopsis (35 pages total). Finalists entries will be judged by both an editor and an agent. Each entrant will receive two one-page written critiques and detailed score sheets. This is a snail mail contest.

Young Adult - Kathy Dawson, Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Group

First Kiss. October 1 e-deadline. Send the scene from your book where your couple first kisses. The scene should convey the emotion and romantic conflict between the characters, sparkle with creative dialogue, description, and characterization, and move the story forward. As one of our authors said, “Good kiss scenes are essentially emotional discoveries. The first kiss brings a new closeness… but also a new set of complications.” The final judge is Patience Smith, Senior Editor, Silhouette Romantic Suspense at Harlequin, will judge six finalists.Cash Prizes. Submission : 10 page maximum scene, plus one set up page.

MERA: Synospis is not a Four-Letter Word. October 1 deadline. USPS and electronic entries. Submit a synopsis of ten pages or less.The top entry in each category will go to our final judge, an acquiring editor, to choose the overall winner. Final Judge: Chris Kesslar, Dorchester Publishing.

The Emily. Deadline October 7. All electronic. Submit the first 35 pages of your manuscript. No synopsis. Entries may be limited to the first 60 submissions in each category. Each finalist will go to both an editor and an agent!

BEST OF THE BEST: The Best of the Best manuscript will be selected by booksellers from the first place manuscripts of each of the four categories. The winner will be awarded a detailed critique of the first three chapters and synopsis by Leis Pederson of Berkley.

1. To enter, submit by e-mail a Microsoft Word file of a typed, double spaced, first chapter (no greater than 5,000 words) of a story you have written which is suitable for the Harlequin Presents or Modern Heat series, and a synopsis (no greater than two pages in length, double-spaced) of the complete novel, along with your name, address, e-mail address and phone number to:

writingcompetition[at]hmb.co.uk

2. All submissions must be in English and be received no later than November 2nd, 2009. Story concept must be original and must not have won a previous prize/award nor have been previously submitted, reproduced or published. One entry per person.

3. Entries will be judged by a panel of members of the Harlequin Mills & Boon editorial staff, based on the following criteria:Voice-Content-Writing Skills.

4. Prizes - 1st Place winner will be awarded the services of a Harlequin Mills & Boon editor for one year [1st December 2009 - 30th November 2010], who will offer advice and guidance on contest entry, plus subsequent, previously mutually agreed submissions of partial or full manuscripts aimed at Harlequin Presents or the Modern Heat series.2nd - consultations for two runners-up on their first chapter and synopsis aimed at Harlequin Presents or the Modern Heat series (5,000 words) with a Harlequin Mills & Boon editor

What am I waiting for? I'm waiting to receive the feedback from the last contest I entered so I can make adjustments to my manuscript before I submit it to the Golden Heart. (I'm also waiting for my coffee to kick in this morning. I'm obviously grouchy. :-) )

I'm going to try the Beacon this year, and I'll be entering the new CWOW contest DOES YOUR STORY HAVE BITE? because I won the entry fee from the Seekerville site. I like the idea that it's an inspirational contest, so I can enter in a genre-specific category within Inspirational. Check it out on Christian Writers of the West!

I used to enter for the feedback but now I enter based on the final round judges.

Wow, this is great. Thanks! I submitted to the Golden Pen last month and plan to try the Golden Heart. It seems that the contest Where the Magic Begins keeps popping up in all kinds of places for me, so I'm going to take that as Providential and try to get my contemp or historical into it this weekend.

can anyone give me some idea about whether I should submit my chick-lit/mom-lit into a 'chick-lit' category or contemp series. It is the first book in a long series, but I'm not sure which place it should fit for some of these contests?

Thanks for another detailed contest report, Tina! And congrats to all those here who are posting that they're faithfuly working on their manuscripts and getting feedback through the contest circuit! Way to go!

Over the past couple of weeks, I experienced a different aspect of contests. I judged 5 contest entries for my Indiana RWA chapter's IGO contest (I can't remember what IGO stands for).

Anyway, I had three suspense entries and two single title.

I found it an enjoyable but time-consuming project. I have entered several contests in the past and recently took a class on judging.

I learned several things. 1) Stories can be interesting even if they have a lot of flaws 2) An exceptionally good mss will be recognized by most people 3) Reading other people's efforts can help you with your own. 4) Easy "grading" doesn't really help anybody. There's no reason to give false hope. People who tell you what they really think are doing you a favor. That doesn't mean everything they say is right, though.

It takes courage to enter a contest and my hat is off to all of you who do!

By the way, I signed up as a Seekerville follower but can't find my picture up there. Are those in alphabetical order? Can somebody check to see if mine went thru?

Holiday weekend approaching and extra bakery hours. Extra money is never a bad thing, but right now time is even better.

Tina!

Thank you so much for a wonderful update, as always! You rock, woman.

And I'm so excited to see such great judging lineups in all categories. Yowza. That's always a wonderful thing.

Okay, gotta scan stuff here. I brought evening snacks, some buttered popcorn, iced decaf and sweet tea, fresh fudge (I love passing signs that read "Fresh Fudge" because who knew how wonderful that would be until you consider the alternative...

Hey Ruthy!Thanks for the fudge! I'm so glad it's Friday too...lol! It's been a tough week.

Just to let you know the parts I got in the musical are chorus and a Bianca girl. A Binca girl is that I am 1 out of 8 girls who sing a song called Bianca in a double quartet in 4-part harmony. Sounds like a piece of cake, eh!?Hannah

Look at all you've all been doing!! Woo hoo on all the contest entries!

Pepper, I didn't check out the contest, but off the top of my head, I would say a contemp. series category is for books like Harlequin/Silhouette category lines. So you'd probably want the chick-lit. But don't trust me on that! Check it out like Tina said. I'm just guessing.